Copyright 2010 ABB. All rights reserved.

Introduction
Generator rotor winding and its associated dc supply electric circuit is typically fully
insulated from the earth (i.e. ground). Therefore single connection of this circuit to earth
will not cause flow of any substantial current. However if second earth fault appears in this
circuit circumstances can be quit serious. Depending on the location of these two faults
such operating condition may cause:

Partial or total generator loss of field

Large dc current flow through rotor magnetic circuit

Rotor vibration

Rotor displacement sufficient to cause stator mechanical damage

Therefore practically all bigger generators have some dedicated protection which is
capable to detect the first earth fault in the rotor circuit and then, depending on the fault
resistance, either just to give an alarm to the operating personnel or actually to give stop
command to the machine.
Rotor earth fault protection can be integrated in REG670/REG650 among all other
protection functions typically required for generator protection. How this is achieved by
using COMBIFLEX injection unit RXTTE4 is described in this document.
2

Injection unit
The injection unit RXTTE4 is used to inject a fundamental frequency AC voltage signal
(i.e. either 50Hz or 60Hz depending on the actual machine rating) to the rotor winding and
its associated electrical circuit. Principal internal RXTTE4 drawing is shown in Figure 1.
RXTTE 4
221

222

R
C
421
ICT
1:10

428

IVT
44.7V

313

230V; 50/60Hz

314

120V; 50/60Hz

315
324

0V

325
321

Figure 1: Voltage injection unit RXTTE4 with its main internal components
Internal components within RXTTE4 unit have the following nominal values:

Resistor R=220; 10W

Capacitor C=6.8F

Type des.
Prep.
Appr.
Resp. dept

Part no.

TPMC / Gert Apell

/ Werner-Erichsen Odd
TPMC

2010-08-26
2012-01-31
Approved

Doc. kind
Title

Information
Rotor earth-fault protection with
injection unit RXTTE4 and REG670

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Internal current transformer (i.e. ICT) has ratio 1:10

Internal voltage transformer (i.e. IVT) will produce 44.7V on the secondary side
when it is supplied from either 120V AC or 230V AC source as shown in Figure 1;
if supply voltage magnitude is different from these values, induced secondary
voltage magnitude will also vary accordingly. Note that it is preferred to have
injection voltage close to above stated values otherwise the resultant injection
current can be too small to be measured.

The injection unit RXTTE 4 shall be connected between one of the two rotor poles (i.e.
either plus or minus) and the earth. The resultant injected current signal is then connected
to an analog current input of REG IED and the injected voltage signal is connected to an
analog voltage input of REG IED, as shown in Figure 2. Due to quite low level of the
injected current signal it is recommended to use 1A rated analog current input in REG 670
and sensitive current input in REG650 for this protection. Note that REG IED will actually
measure ten times bigger current than the real injected rotor current due to selected ICT
ratio of 1:10.
RXTTE4 can be connected directly to the rotor winding as shown in Figure 2, or via a
protective external resistor mounted close to the generator as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 2: Direct connection of RXTTE4 to the rotor winding

Note that connecting cable between rotor and RXTTE4 shall follow the insulation
requirements/levels specified for the generator rotor winding.
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Excitation
Transformer
RShaft

X1:1

Connections for
optional
External Resistor

R
Connection to be done by
the panel builder / field
contractor

X1:3

Iinj

RXTTE 4
221

REG 670/REG650

222

C
421
IR
428

324
UR

313

230 V AC

314

120 V AC

315

325
321

Figure 3: Connection of RXTTE4 to the rotor winding via protecting resistor

The second type of installation is used when either there is end-user requirement to
minimize physical exposure of the field circuit or when high harmonic content of the total
injection current can cause overheating of the built-in RXTTE4 resistor (see Section 3).
All internal calculations in the REG IED are performed in primary amperes and primary
volts. Therefore it is also necessary to set CT and VT ratio for the two analogue inputs
used for rotor earth-fault protection. It is recommended to set the primary rated CT current
to 1000A and the secondary rated CT current to 1A. By doing so, the displayed service
value for the primary current (i.e. called IR in further text) both from the function and from
the TRM channel will directly correspond to mA value of the injected current IR measured
by the REG IED. Parameter CTearthing shall be set to the value FromObject in order to
use setting Forward for directional protection function used for rotor earth fault protection
(see Section 4.1 for more details). However this shall be verified during commissioning.
The voltage input into REG IED is always taken directly from the 120 V input tap on the
RXTTE4, as shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3. It is recommended to set the primary rated
VT voltage to 100 kV and the secondary rated VT voltage to 100 V. By doing so, the
displayed service value for the primary voltage (i.e. called UR in further text), both from the
function and from the TRM channel will directly correspond to the injected voltage in volts
on the 120 V tap.

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Sometimes it may be required that one RXTTE4 injection unit shall supply two REG IEDs
(i.e. Main 1 and Main 2 protections) in order to have redundant rotor earth fault protection.
This can be achieved by using connection shown in Figure 4. Note that only one RXTTE4
can be used and that only measurement part of the rotor earth fault protection is made
redundant by such connation.

Figure 4: Connection of RXTTE4 in order to obtain redundant measurement

Some generators are equipped with rotating exciter. In such applications RXTTE4 shall be
connected as shown in Figure 5.

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Figure 5: Connection of RXTTE4 to rotating exciter

2.1

Selection of injected voltage source

RXTTE4 need a reliable source of fundamental frequency 120V or 230V voltage signal.
The following two solutions are typically used in practice:
1. One phase-to-phase VT voltage from the generator terminal is used as source of
supply for the injection circuit. By using such connection injection voltage is
automatically removed from the rotor circuit when generator is at standstill which
may be desirable from the personal safety point if view. As a consequence rotor
earth fault protection is disabled until generator is almost at full speed and
excitation is applied. However note that injection voltage from RXTTE4 is in order
or 40V and do not pose direct danger to the personnel.
2. Independent AC supply from the station auxiliary supply is used as source of
supply for the injection circuit. Advantage of this approach is that rotor earth fault
protection is active whenever this AC supply is connected to the injection unit.
Which of these two methods shall be used may depend on national safety standards
and/or end-user operating practices.

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External Resistor for RXTTE4

The external resistor is used when either there is a need to minimize physical exposure of
the field circuit or when high harmonic content of the total injection current can cause
overheating of the built-in RXTTE4 resistor.
The external resistor is delivered mounted on an insulated plate with overall dimensions
Height=160mm, Width=135mm suitable for wall mounting, see Figure 6. It actually
consists of two resistors (i.e. R1 and R2) which are on delivery connected in series.

Resistor
R1

Resistor
R2

Figure 6: External resistor mounted on a plate

It is possible to order two different types of the external resistor as shown in Table 1:
Table 1: Ordering details and properties for external resistor

Order Number for Complete Plate

R1 properties

R2 Properties

RK795102-AD

100; 50W

120; 50W

RK795102-AB

560; 50W

560; 50W

The first type (i.e. with ordering number RK795102-AD) has exactly the same ohmic value
of 220 as the internal RXTTE4 resistor. It shall be used in cases where only physical
exposure of the field circuit shall be limited.
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The second type (i.e. with ordering number RK795102-AB) has different ohmic value than
internal RXTTE4 resistor. It shall be used in installations where current with high harmonic
content is pushed back onto the RXTTE4 injection unit by the rotor circuit, see Section 5.1
for more information. Typically such installations are characterized by:
1. Small rotor capacitance to ground (i.e. CR<2F, see Figure 7)
2. Static excitation equipment
In such installation it is preferable to use the second type of the external resistor because
it actually offer possibility to change its ohmic value by simple using serial or parallel
connection of the R1 and R2 resistors on the delivered plate. Note that three different
ohmic values of 280 or 560 or 1120 are viable (see Table 2 for more details).
The following rules shall be used to decide when to switch to the external resistor and
then how to select its ohmic value:
1. Total injected current Iinj (i.e. including all harmonic components) which flows
through the RXTTE4 into the rotor must be smaller than 115mA in order to use the
internal resistor. In practice it might be easier to measure voltage across the
internal 220 resistor instead (i.e. between terminals 221 and 222 on the RXTTE4
injection unit, see Figure 1). If this voltage is bigger than 25V external resistor must
be used. Note that the used voltmeter shall be able to measure the total RMS
voltage (i.e. including all harmonic components).
2. When external resistor shall be used its ohmic value should be the smallest one
from the three values shown in Table 2, for which the total injected current (i.e.
including all harmonic components, which flows through the RXTTE4 into the
rotor) is smaller than 200mA. This limit is set in order to prevent internal RXTTE4
capacitor from overheating. In practice it might be easier to measure voltage
across the external resistor instead (between terminals X1:1 and X1:3, see Table 2
and Figure 6) and then the following voltages shall not be exceeded:
56V in order to use 280 external resistor
112V in order to use 560 external resistor
224V in order to use 1120 external resistor
Once more please note that used voltmeter shall be able to measure the total true
RMS voltage (i.e. including all harmonic components).

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Table 2: Different ohmic values with RK795102-AB depending on used connections

External resistor ohmic value

Required connection for R1 and R2

R1

280 *

R2

(parallel connection of R1 & R2)

X1:

560 *
(use just R1)

1120
(serial connection of R1 & R2)

* Requires wiring change of the factory delivered external resistor

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Relay Operating Principles and Settings

A fundamental frequency voltage (i.e. 50Hz or 60Hz) is injected via the injection unit
RXTTE4 into the generator field winding circuit. Typically the injected voltage towards the
rotor circuit is around 40V. This voltage forms a small current Iinj (see Figure 2) which
flows via internal capacitor C and resistor R into the connected rotor circuitry. The internal
current transformer (ICT) of the RXTTE4 then amplifies this current with its ratio 1:10 to a
measurable level by the selected current input on the REG IED. Note that current Iinj has
its path via rotor winding isolation resistance and rotor winding capacitance to rotor axle.
The rotor axle is grounded either via turbine (e.g. contact between turbine blades and
water for the hydro units) or via dedicated grounding brush on to the rotor axle. The
grounding brush is connected to earth either directly or via an additional shaft resistance
(see RShaft in Figure 2 and Figure 7). When RXTTE4 is used condition RShaft 200
shall be fulfilled. The following equivalent circuit can then be drawn for the RXTTE4:

Iinj
F2

Insulation
Resistance or
Fault
Resistance
in Rotor
Winding

RXTTE 4
221

222

R
C

IR
RF

F1

421

CR

ICT
1:10

428

IVT
44.7V

RShaft

313

230V; 50/60Hz

314

120V; 50/60Hz

315
324

UR

0V

325
321

Figure 7: RXTTE4 equivalent circuit when internal resistor is used

Where new quantities are:

CR is rotor winding capacitance to ground

RF is fault resistance or rotor winding insulation resistance in fail-free situation

RShaft is shaft grounding resistance (if existing)

IR is measured current by the REG IED

UR is measured voltage by the REG IED

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Figure 8: RXTTE4 equivalent circuit when external resistor is used

Because the equivalent circuit only contains resistive and capacitive elements, current
measured by the IED will lead the injected voltage for angle , as shown in Figure 9.

IR

UR
Figure 9: Phasor diagram of the measured quantities by the IED
During fault-free situation (i.e. normal operation) angle will have value close to +90 (i.e.
current will lead the voltage for this angle). This shall be verified during commissioning by
using Measurement Menu on the IED built-in HMI. During fault conditions, the fault
resistance RF becomes smaller. Consequently the current IR magnitude increases while
the angle decreases causing the active current component of the injected current (i.e.
current in phase with the injected voltage; calculated as product I R cos ) to increase.
Thus a single phase, directional overcurrent protection function which operation is based
on the fundamental frequency magnitude of the active component of the injected current
(i.e. I R cos ) can be used to provide rotor earth fault protection. Note that injected
voltage UR is used as polarizing quantity. Typically two such directional stages are used.
One stage is then used for alarm and the second stage for tripping. In REG670 either
multipurpose function (i.e. CV GAPC) or four stage earth fault function (i.e. EF4 PTOC)
can be used. In REG650 either sensitive earth fault function (i.e. SDE PSDE) or four stage
earth fault function (i.e. EF4 PTOC) can be used. However in REG670 typically GF
function is used because it offers additional features like under current stage (can be used
for supervision of the integrity of the injection path on bigger generators) and undervoltage stage (can be used for supervision of the magnitude of the injection voltage).
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Example of the operating characteristic for the directional overcurrent principle is shown in
Figure 10.

Alarm
Operating
Region

Trip
Operating
Region

IR

UR

Figure 10: Relay operating characteristic

Note that due to internal CV GAPC function convention reported service value for angle
between current and voltage from the function will be shown with a negative sign (e.g. 84) when measured current leads the measured voltage.

4.1

Settings and commissioning procedure when multipurpose function (i.e. CV GAPC) is used
Typically rotor earth fault alarm and trip values are specified as fault resistance (e.g.
RAlarm=5k and RTrip=500). These two values can be converted to directional overcurrent
function pickup settings only during commissioning. The reason is that they are dependent
on actual site condition like magnitude of the injected voltage, rotor capacitance and used
value of series resistor in RXTTE4.
The following procedure shall be used during commissioning to determine the final
function current pickup settings:
1) Check that used CT and VT inputs in the IED have set ratio of 1000A/1A and
100kV/100V respectively.
2) Set function parameters as follows:
In group General / setting Group 1:
> Current input
= phase1
> IBase
=1000A
>Voltage input
= phase1
> UBase
=100kV
> RCADir
= 0 degrees
In group OCn / Setting group 1:

> DirMode_OCn
> DirPrinc_OCn

=Forward
=IcosPhi&U

(n=1 or 2)
(n=1 or 2)

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3) When RXTTE4 is prepared (i.e. fundamental frequency supply connected and

rotor winding connected but machine at standstill) write down UR, IR, and IR.cos
during fault-free condition. All four values are actually directly available as service
values from the function. Make sure that the current lead the voltage for almost
90. Note that the angle service value from the CV GAPC function will be shown
with a minus sign (e.g. as -85).
4) Connect the required alarm fault resistance (e.g. 5k) between the connection
point of the injection cable to the rotor circuit and the ground (i.e. fault point F2 in
Figure 7 or Figure 8). Write down UR, IR, and IR.cos values.
5) Set the pickup value of the directional overcurrent alarm stage 2% under obtained
value IR.cos from the previous point. Set desired alarm time delay (e.g. ten
seconds). Make sure that this stage now operates and give alarm signal in
accordance with the protection scheme design.
6) Instead of the alarm resistance connect now the required trip fault resistance (e.g.
500) to the same point. Write down UR, IR, and IR.cos values.
7) Set the pickup value of the directional overcurrent tripping stage 2% under
obtained value IR.cos from the previous point. Set desired alarm time delay (e.g.
two seconds). Make sure that the trip stage now operates and give required trip
signal in accordance with the protection scheme design.
8) Remove the trip fault resistance from the circuit. Write down UR, IR, and IR.cos
values. Make sure that they are the same as under point 3) above.
Rotor earth fault protection is now set in accordance with the fault resistance settings.
It is also recommended to calculate the maximum possible fault current which will be
obtained for earth fault in locations F1 and F2 as shown in Figure 7 and Figure 8. This
maximum fault current magnitude can be estimated by using the following equation:

I F _ Max [mA]

1000 U R [kV ]
;
K

with leading phase angle in respect to injected voltage.

Where:

IF_Max [mA] maximum fault current magnitude in mA

UR [kV] injected voltage magnitude in kV as measured by the IED during fault-free

operating condition

K constant dependent on used resistor and injected frequency (see Table 3)

m is angle for which will the maximum fault current leads the injected voltage

Table 3: Parameters to estimate maximum feasible fault current measured by the IED
Used
Resistor

Fault at point

f=50Hz

f=60Hz

Any (i.e. Not

Relevant)

F1*

K= 125.7 & m=+90

K= 104.7 & m=+90

R=220

F2*

K= 138.9 & m=+64.8

K= 120.3 & m=+60.6

R=280

F2*

K= 146.5 & m=+59.1

K= 129 & m=+54.3

R=560

F2*

K= 196 & m=+39.9

K= 183.3 & m=+34.9

R=1120

F2*

K= 326 & m=+22.7

K= 318.5 & m=+19.2

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* Fault point as shown in Figure 7 or Figure 8

Make sure that set alarm and trip current levels are smaller than the product
I F _ Max cos( m) for the fault at F2 relevant for your installation (see Table 3 above).

Harmonics posed by the rotor circuit onto RXTTE4

Static excitation supply to the rotor circuit can cause quite complex rotor winding voltage
patterns. Measured rotor voltage to ground in one installation is shown in Figure 11.
Rotor Voltages to Ground
200
100

Voltage [V]

5.1

External influencing quantities

0
100

Positive Pole
Negative Pole

200
20

10

10

20

Time [ms]

Figure 11: Example of Rotor Voltage to Ground for 50Hz Static Excitation Supply
Note that the magnitude of these two voltages may also depend on the design of the R-C
filter circuit which is typically present in the static excitation system. This filter is typically
called shaft voltage suppressor.
This rotor voltage to ground will cause additional current through the RXTTE4 injection
unit which will be reach in harmonics. The frequency spectrum of the total injected current
Iinj from another RXTTE4 installation is shown in Figure 12:

Injected Current Freq Spectrum

1.510

[mA]

110

500
0

10

Multiple of Fundamental Frequency

Figure 12: Frequency Spectrum of Iinj

Obviously the sixth harmonic current component is the most dominant one. It is couple of
time bigger than the fundamental frequency current component caused by the RXTTE4
itself. Such high total RMS value of the injected current can be sufficiently high to
overheat the RXTTE4. In such case external protective resistor must be used. Note that
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these harmonic current components will not be visible as service value from REG IED.
The reason is that REG IED is designed to measure and show only the fundamental
frequency current component. For more information please refer to Section 3.

5.2

Earth faults on the AC side of the static excitation circuit

With static exciter it is possible to get earth fault either on a DC side or on an AC side of
the rectifier bridge as shown in Figure 13.

Fault on
DC side

Fault on
AC side

Figure 13: Connection of RXTTE4 to the rotor winding via protecting resistor
Note that for earth faults on the AC side an additional fundamental frequency voltage
component will be superimposed onto the RXTTE4 circuit. Magnitude of this voltage
component can vary from zero volts up to full phase-to-ground voltage depending on
exact fault location point within the secondary winding of the excitation transformer. Thus,
the resultant fundamental frequency current IR measured by the IED can have any phase
angle and magnitude much higher than injection current caused by the RXTTE4 itself.
Therefore typically third non-directional over-current protection stage (see Section 4.1) is
used in order to trip for such condition. It setting shall be set 10% below the maximum
fault current level calculated for fault at point F1 (see the second row in Table 3 for more
information). To achieve this functionality separate CV GAPC function shall be used
because each CV GAPC function has only two over-current stages. When EF4 PTOC
function is used third over-current stage already available in this function shall be used for
this purpose, but it shall be set as non-directional.
Note that it is strongly recommend to trip for faults on the AC side of the exciter because
RXTTE4 design limits will be excided for such type of faults. If machine is not tripped
promptly RXTTE4 components may be overheated and will consequently burn out.

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Mounting of RXTTE4
Note that in order to mount injection unit RXTTE4 some COMBIFLEX accessories are
required. First of all one COMBIFLEX terminal base type RX4 is needed in order to plug-in
the RXTTE4 injection unit. This RX4 base can be rack, flash, case or DIN-rail mounted
inside the panel. For any of these mounting alternatives, relevant COMBIFLEX
accessories are needed. Finally, to wire the RX4 base, COMBIFLEX 10A and 20A contact
sockets as well as COMBIFLEX crimping tool for attaching these sockets to leads are
required. More information about all these COMBIFLEX accessories can be found in ABB
document Builders Guide - COMBIFLEX with document number 1MRK 509 075-MEN.

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REVISION
Rev. ind. Page (P)
Description
Chapt. (C)

Date
Dept./Init.

A
B
C
D
E

P/ZG
P/ZG
P/ZG
P/ZG
PA/OW-E

P: 11;
C: 4.1 2)

Document Created
Correction about CT earthing parameter
Final corrections for REG670
REG650 and RXTTE4 mounting added
Added setting values for parameters Current input; Voltage input
and RCADir.

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